Lewis, W. Arthur

Lewis, W. (William) Arthur

(1915–91) economist; born in St. Lucia, West Indies. He completed his formal education in England and accepted a professorship at Princeton in 1963. The thrust of his contribution examines the economics of developing countries and their "dual economies"—small, urban, industrialized economic sectors surrounded by vast, rural, traditional areas. His work also dealt with the supply of labor in developing countries. In 1979 he shared the Nobel Prize in economics with Theodore Schultz.